Discovery
by Remnant of VII
Summary: A prequel to Final Fantasy: Project VII. Post DOC. Cloud Strife and Vincent Valentine journey through the ruins of Deepground and Reactor Zero and stumble upon something that will change Cloud's life forever. Oneshot.


**Author's note:** This is a one-shot prequel to Final Fantasy: Project VII. This should clear up some confusion about the origins of Edo Strife, the Original Character of my first story. I have some ideas about a possible FFVII/ Claymore crossover. More details on that coming soon.

**Discovery: A Project VII Prequel**

It was finally over... The bloodiest war since the Wutai War so many years ago. So many people lost their lives on that fateful day. The day of Omega's awakening. Now that the fight was over, the real struggle began... picking back up their lives and starting over.

Cloud Strife had hoped that this would be his last mission and he would go back to the things that mattered to him most. His family and friend, but like usual, work seemed to rear its ugly head when he didn't want it. Just as Cloud was about ready to go home in Edge, Reeve called him, asking him to help out with investigating the Deepground base. Cloud, slightly irked by the request, accepted it. Reeve had kept Strife Delivery Service from going bankrupt several times after Sephiroth's Reunion so Cloud was returning the favor. _Tifa's not going to like me leaving without telling her why I'm not coming home tonight. Neither is Denzel. I promised him I'd help him with his homework later tonight._

Vincent was already waiting for him at the old Shinra building in the heart of Midgar. "Hey, how are you feeling today?" "Still sore from yesterday, but other than that, I'm fine" It still amazed Cloud how Vincent became so powerful during the final battle, and yet still as calm and content as ever. He seemed... less depressed. For the first time, Vincent Valentine smiled. "What's with the smile all of a sudden? I never seen you smile." "I was forgiven." Cloud was slightly taken by surprise by what Vincent had told him. _He was forgiven?_ "Lets get this over with so Tifa doesn't end up killing you." "What about you? Where are going after this?" "Yuffie's helping me fix up the mansion in Nibelheim after we finish this mission." "Why Yuffie? I thought you couldn't stand her?" "Yeah, but she's the only one that volunteered to help."

Cloud and Vincent spent the next several hours trudging through the rubble of the abandoned Shinra building, trying to make it to the elevator in the the president's office, but finally after a lengthy ride down the elevator, they made it to the entrance of the Deepground base. Cloud strained his neck looking at the huge door in front of him. "Wow, that's a bit excessive. How did you ever manage to get it open last time." Vincent strode over to a small panel on the side of the door. "Like this." With a press of a button, a thick, black, cloud of smoke hissed from the door as it groaned to life and slowly opened. Inside, they found what seemed to be the ruins of a large city. "What is this place? Could it have been Midgar before the plates were set up?" "I'm not sure myself. Lets worry about that later. We need to reach the reactor up ahead." They continued walking through the ruins of the underground city. The grounds of the city were still littered with the bodies of fallen Deepground soldiers. All of them, Vincent's own handy work. It was hard to believe that all those soldiers, a whole organization consisting of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, fell all because of one man and the demons that he carried inside of him for so long. Now here they were, searching for possible survivors, but from the looks of things out here, they probably weren't going to be successful. Cloud and Vincent finally reached the fabled Reactor Zero. The mako reactor that started the trend that drained the very life from the planet itself.

"Vincent, lets take a break. Its already midnight and my feet are killing me." "What about the fiends down here?" "Don't worry, I brought a tent along with me, just in case." Cloud set the insanely heavy backpack on the floor and began unzipping the vast amounts of compartments, searching for it. "This is the last time I let Tifa pack for me." Cloud set up the tent and unrolled a couple of sleeping bags. "Which one of the sleeping bags do you want, Vincent?" "You go ahead, I'll stand guard." "You sure?" "I've been asleep for thirty years. I'll be fine." "Okay then. Goodnight." Cloud crawled into the tent and zipped it closed. Settling into the sleeping bag he closed his eyes, hoping for some pleasant dreams this time.

Cloud was sitting at the edge of a cliff outside of Midgar. The very same cliff that the First-Class SOLDIER, Zack Fair, gave his life to save Cloud's. "I said I'd live out both our lives." "You still haven't moved on with your life, have you? Geez Cloud, I really hate to see you like this." "I'm sorry, Zack... Sometimes, I just can't let go." "Well you need to. There's a lot more things to worry about besides forgiveness." "But..." "No buts or what-ifs, got it? I gave you a second chance, so use it. Quit wasting it on feeling sorry for yourself." "How will I know if I'm ready for it?" "Don't worry. You'll know."

A loud ringing from Cloud's alarm on his cell phone brought him back to reality. He lazily stretched and groaned, still groggy and a little sore from yesterday. "Vincent, you still there." A simple reply of "Yeah" came from outside the tent. Cloud unzipped the tent and crawled out of it, yawning. "get enough sleep?" "Yeah. So where are we starting the search today?" "We'll start from the bottom and work our way up. Do you still have the Life Cam?" Cloud pulled out what seemed to be a small video camera and flicked a switch on the back of it. "What's this supposed to do again?" "Its supposed to be able to pick up human life signs." A small blip appeared over the map of the reactor on the screen. "Looks like we got something already. It on the 2nd floor from the looks of it. It's weak though." Vincent was already loading his new gun, the Cerberus. "Lets hurry then." He knew the fiend were getting restless and were ready to kill Vincent and Cloud at a moments notice.

On the second floor of the reactor, the fiends broke the silence and started their attack. One of the fiends launched itself at Cloud, teeth bared and claws ready to rip into flesh, only to be met by one of Cloud's many swords. He sliced the fiend in two with like a hot knife through butter. "Where the hell did these fiends come from?" Vincent spun around and fired several shot in the dark. Two fiends skidded across the floor beside him, dead. The other fiends started backing away slowly. "They're retreating. Looks like we scared them off." "At least for now... let's go before they try again." Cloud nodded and started walking in the direction of the signal. They came up to a door marked PRIVATE. "The signal's coming from inside the room. Vincent, cover me." Vincent gave him a slight nod. Cloud gripped the doorknob and pushed it in slowly, one hand gripped firmly on his sword in case another fiend attacks. Instead of finding the usual desk stacked with papers inside, Cloud and Vincent stumbled upon what seemed to be a small lab of some sort. Two sides of the lab were lined with large cylindrical glass tubes. "These look like stasis tubes." Cloud shined a small spotlight on one of the tubes along the wall. "Looks like they've been used lately." Out in the far corner of the room, one of the tubes seemed to be still occupied. It was the only one that was still lit and was probably what kept the room lit.

Vincent was the first to notice "Cloud, you might want to take a look at this." Cloud stepped lightly over the broken glass to the far corner of the room. He jerked back suddenly at what he saw. It was a girl, but it wasn't any ordinary girl. She had the silver locks of the devil himself, Sephiroth. The girl was slenderly built and slightly taller than average. Her complexion was pale, almost snow white, probably due to the lack of sunlight for so long. "A remnant? What's it doing down here?" "Hojo must have been working on a separate project during the Deepground crisis." "How did Hojo get a hold of Jenova cells?" "I don't know, but lets get her out of here."

Inhuman screams filled the reactor as Cloud carried the mysterious girl in his arms out of the reactor. Vincent followed him as they ran through the reactor's halls before the fiends got to them.

After several hours of trudging back through the ruins of the underground city, they reached the entrance to Deepground and their exit to freedom... as well as the beginning to their new lives. As for the the mysterious girl, well... we'll just save that for another story. The story of Project VII.

**End.**


End file.
